The best is building any team (through Division II) to elite status. The worst is trying to compete at Division I if your not a major school or with a good baseline prestige.

I like recruiting and watching players develop.   I also like the intelligent discussion on the boards.

Best thing at D2/D3 is finding a player that you think will be good one day, recruiting him, seeing him struggle as a freshman an turn into a conference player of the year. 

Best thing at D1 is recruit generation day where you pray that good players for your level school are generated close to you, closely tied with the 24 hours before and 12 hours after signings when all the battles really happen...its intense. 

I love that the game is diverse enough that there doesn't seem to be one "set" style that has to be employed to win. You can craft a team that really matches your personality and style. Also love meeting others and getting to know them thru coaches chat on conference boards when you're able to get into a good league.

On the down side, I hate some of the unrealistic recruits that pop up (DII shooting guards, for example, that are 22 PE and low potential...bigs that will never rebound out of the 40s, etc.) and the complete nuking of speed for PF and C's that took place.

It would be interesting to come back just to see the changes.  I'm totally with Joe on the recruiting thing, because it was easily my favorite part (at least in DII).  And jbob hit the nail on the head talking about competing in DI as a mid-major.  When I didn't have quick success like I did in DII and DIII, I think it really took the wind out of my sails a little bit.

Yeah life in low D1 has gotten even harder....that's the only bad part though, D2 is great, and if you can stomach some tough times and built to take over a big 6 school and not to become a national power low D1 is ok.

I've enjoyed being a small conference DI coach.... Doesn't mean I don't plan on hopping to a Big 6 conference as soon as I can, but I haven't been too frustrated with my limited success.  I feel like I could be a serious contender next season, currently have an RPI of 33 headed into the semis of the CT and don't have a single senior on my roster.  

But yeah, the best part in my opinion is recruiting and building up your own team however you want to.  The worst part is, despite what I just said, the lack of parity at the DI level.

You need reasonable expectations if you are going low/ mid level D1.

-Have a system and identify the ratings that are most important for it's success.

- Recruit for potential with reasonable expectations your first year. For this reason, I prefer taking over a team with 4+ schollies. Get guys for my system and get them experience.

- Play your guys year 1 and develop IQ. Don't worry about your record.

- Year 2 aim for .500 or better.

PI berth year 3 and NT year 4

If successful, you should be around a C+/B- prestige and can improve recruit quality or move up to a better situation.

I am currently in year 4 and enjoying every second of it.

If I were to come back, it would only be as a DII coach. Recruiting was so much more fun in DII than in DI. In DII, I loved to wait and see who drops down, but in DI, it seemed like I had to lock up my targeted guys within the first two cycles. The one thing I'd change is to somehow make it more affordable to buy a couple of FSS states when recruits are generated for the next season, but long before the end-of-season funding. In the lower divisions, it’s hard to carry over enough money to put towards FSS. I would really enjoy a long "window shopping" period. It's more fun to dream of the next batch of potential recruits during the season, rather than scramble to figure it out a day or two before the recruiting period.

The worst thing about it is playing against these full court press teams where everyone on the team has 80 defense and 80 athletism, and they shoot 40 free throws to your 15.